The Canterbury Cup NSW is a rugby league competition for clubs in New South Wales previously known as the Intrust Super Premiership, NSWNew South Wales Cup, and NSWRL Premier League. It has a history dating back to the NSWRFL's origins in 1908, starting off as a reserve grade competition. It is now the premier open age competition in the state. The New South Wales Cup, along with the Queensland Cup, acts as a feeder competition to the National Rugby League premiership.

It is contested by reserve squads of NSW-based NRL teams and also includes sides representing teams that once competed at the first grade level in the NSWRL Premiership but do not field teams in the NRL competition. The North Sydney Bears are the only team to have competed in every season of the competition since 1908.

History

The New South Wales Cup, run by the NSWRL, has been known by a variety of names and operated in several different ways since the inception of the NSWRL Premiership in 1908. Between 1908 and 1996, the competition was known as Reserve Grade and was competed for almost exclusively by reserve squads of each of the NSWRL Premiership Clubs, competing with that Club's name and colours. With the advent of the Super League war, and the resultant split competition in 1997, the NSWRL reconfigured the competition as the Presidents Cup. From 2002 until 2007, the competition was known as the NSWRL Premier League until it was reorganised into its present form as the New South Wales Cup in 2008.

The inclusion of these non-NRL clubs (along with the return of the Newtown Jets in 2000) in the competition signalled a move away from the 'reserve squad' competition it had become and became increasingly differentiated from the NRL competition with games played at non-NRL venues such as North Sydney Oval, Marrickville's Henson Park and Western Weekender Stadium at St Marys.

Another trend that began during this period was the phenomenon of NRL clubs 'out-sourcing' competing teams, with several NRL clubs choosing not to field sides in this competition and rather field either merged entities (as in the St Marys Penrith Cougars and Balmain Ryde Eastwood Tigers, both formed with NSWRL Jim Beam Cup sides) or form agreements with another club to take their place in the competition, those players being eligible for NRL selection, such as the agreement between Newtown Jets and Sydney Roosters for the 2006 season.

2007 Expansion

2008 Expansion

In 2008 and 2009, Jersey Flegg Cup club Central Coast Storm fielded a team in the competition. The team was based on the NSW Central Coast but acted as a feeder club to the Melbourne Storm.[1]
In addition the Panthers were replaced by the Windsor Wolves and the Sharks were replaced by the Cronulla-Sutherland Cobras. The Canberra Raiders withdrew from the competition on 1 August 2007. The Newcastle Knights also announced a joint venture with the Central Charlestown. The team used the original Central Newcastle Rebels Name.[2] The Parramatta Eels also formed a joint-venture with the Wentworthville Magpies to act as their Feeder Club in the competition from 2008 onwards.[3] The Saints decided to no longer run a Reserve Grade Side, but would use the St George District Rugby League & the Illawarra District Rugby League competitions instead as their Feeder Team/s.

2012 Expansion

Season 2012 saw the return of feeder clubs for NRL teams St George Illawarra and Canberra. The Illawarra Steelers, in partnership with Illawarra Coal and the Illawarra Leagues Club re-entered a team into the league, the Illawarra Cutters. They previously acted as a feeder club to the Dragons. A Mounties Rugby League Club also entered the NSW Cup this season and is the Raiders' feeder club.

2013 Expansion

NSW Cup Logo 2013-2015

The 2013 season will see Wyong Roos entering a team in the NSWCUP for the first time. It will not be a feeder team to any NRL team.
2013 was also the first time in Rugby League history that teams with the names Western Suburbs and Balmain will not field a team in the cup, they played as the Wests Tigers. There is a current state of ambiguity surrounding this joint venture, and it is suggested that both Wests and Balmain will return as two separate clubs once financial requirements are met.

2014 Season

In 2014 the Auckland Vulcans were replaced by a side from the New Zealand Warriors.[4] The Penrith Panthers will also be returning to the competition in 2014, replacing Windsor, who remain in the Ron Massey Cup.

Intrust Super Premiership Logo from 2016 to 2018

2016 Launch of the Intrust Super Premiership

On 29 January 2016 it was announced that Intrust Super had secured naming rights for the competition for a three-year agreement[5] The name would have been decided not to be confused with the Queensland-based competition the Intrust Super Cup.

2017 Season

On 5 July 2016, it was announced that starting the following season, the Blacktown Workers will become the feeder club for the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles in a joint-venture agreement[6]. The Blacktown Workers Sea Eagles made their NSW Cup debut in Round 1 of the 2017 Season with a defeat to the Newtown Jets, before finishing 10th in the regular season and subsequently missing a post-season berth.

In September, Intrust Super extended their naming rights partnership with the New South Wales State Cup through to the end of the 2018 season.[7]

On 27 October 2017, it was announced that Illawarra would be replaced by The St George Illawarra Dragons for The 2018 Intrust Super Premiership NSW season as part of a restructure in the competition.[8]

2018 Season

In late November, 2017 it was announced that as part of a re-brand, the Western Suburbs Magpies will enter the competition from the following season acting as a feeder club to the Wests Tigers, who had previously competed under their own brand[9].

2019 Consolidation and Feeder Changes

On 2 March 2018, it was reported that the board of the Wyong Roos, feeder to Sydney Roosters since 2014, voted to cut all ties with the club at end of the 2018 season[10]. As a result, the Wyong Roos will not take part in the 2019 Intrust Super Premiership. On 5 September 2018, it was announced that the North Sydney Bears would assume the status as the official feeder club to the Roosters NRL side[11] until at least the end of the 2023 season, with Jason Taylor, a former North Sydney player and assistant coach to the Roosters, appointed head coach[12].

The South Sydney Rabbitohs, having had a previous feeder relationship with the Bears, will now field their own team in the Intrust Super Premiership[13], keeping the number of competing teams at 12.

On 10 October 2018, it was reported that the Parramatta Eels will field a team in the Intrust Super Premiership starting 2020, thus ending their relationship with the Wentworthville Magpies at this time[14]. It was announced that former Wyong Roos coach, Rip Taylor, would coach the Magpies in their final season.[15]

Canterbury Cup NSW

On 7 March, it was announced that apparel giant Canterbury of New Zealand won the rights to be the new naming partner of the NSW Cup competition which was renamed the Canterbury Cup NSW. The deal was announced to run to the end of the 2024 season. The NSWRL also announced that the new Western Sydney Stadium would host the grand final in each of those seasons under the deal.[16]

Broadcast & Media

Radio

Hawkesbury Radio broadcast Penrith Panthers matches during the season when played on non NRL game days, selected other matches ISP matches when not covered by other stations and all the finals matches.

SWR Triple 9 FM broadcast at least one game a week during the season plus all the finals matches.

Fox League show Live coverage of one to two games per round. From 2018, the Nine Network will broadcast one Sunday afternoon match each week LIVE at 1pm. All of the Intrust Super Premiership finals series are on Nine Network and Fox Sports.

Online

The NSWRL website upload highlights of every game of the NSW Cup. It also gives half time and full-time scores of the other games.

NRL State Championship Match

Since 2014, The NSW Cup Grand Final Match has been played on the same day as the QLD Cup Grand Final, the weekend prior to the NRL Grand Final, allowing for the creation of the NRL State Championship which saw the NSW Cup premiers face off against the QLD Cup Premiers as a curtain raiser to the NRL Grand Final, originally following the National Youth Competition Grand Final from 2014 to 2017[18][19] and following the NRL Women's Grand Final since 2018.